Running Without Direction
by ShiraNation
Summary: Semi-AU. Emily and Naomi are both running, both lying to themselves that they are running 'from' when in fact they will discover they are actually running 'towards.' The question now is, 'towards what'
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

**A/N: Hello everyone, here's another story that happened to pop into my head, let me know if it's one worth pursuing. Thanks. Reviews will be accepted with the utmost appreciation. ;)**

**Title: ****Running Without Direction**

**Featuring:**** Naomily! (Not together right away…) And likely the rest of the Gen 2 characters, with possible appearances of Gen 1 folks. **

**Basics:**** AU. Yet, references the original. (Too lazy to give you a better summary than that… Just read it, yeah?)**

**Rating: ****T, I like to swear and heat things up. ^_^**

**Okay, enough nonsense. Here's the good stuff…**

Chapter One: Prologue To Running

"I'M JUST TRYING TO HELP YOU, EMILY!" The woman stood up, slamming her hands on the table rustling all the silverware while her chair fell to the floor from the harsh movement, towering over her short daughter.

"Don't be rash love." The man seated at the opposite side of the table looked between two of the people he loved that were fighting, with softness in his eyes. This wasn't their first fight and he always tried to remain calm and reign in his wife before too much damage was done to either of them.

There were only two others still sitting at the table, one a girl and the other a boy. The girl looked much like the one standing on the other side of the table, however instead of anger written all over her face, she seemed more annoyed as if this fight was normal and of frequent occurrence. The boy, younger than everyone else was looking between his mother and angry sister with worry. He hated it when they fought, he knew that his mother was being unfair to his sister but at the same time, his sister was rubbing their differences in her mothers face, he just wished they could compromise and stop fighting.

Everyone watched as the red-headed glared at her mother for a moment before flipping her off and storming out, each step she took on the staircase to upstairs echoes through the house with a loud rage. Her departing words float through the air, filling the room with an uncomfortable silence. "Fine, I'm moving out."

The mother collapses in her chair and starts weeping, "I can't do this anymore." The father gets up, pushing his chair back and dropping the fork holding an unrecognizable food on his plate that he had been about to take a bite of, walking around the table to pull his wife back off her chair and pull her into a tight hug, whispering to her it would be okay.

The twin takes the opportunity to escape while her parents were distracted, in hopes to sort out her sister before she did something stupid. She followed her brother up the steps, but instead of going left towards his room, she made a right into the room she shared with her sister.

"Emily, what the fuck are you doing?" The sister was standing in the middle of the room, watching as Emily was all over the place grabbing random articles of clothing and a few objects from here and there.

"I'm leaving, Katie. I'm not dealing with that bitch anymore." She throws a red tank top in her bag, not really paying attention to exactly who's shirt it is.

"That's my top!" As important as sorting out her sister was, Katie felt it was easier to deal with more normal sister interactions, such as arguing over possessions.

"Fucking take it." The red-head threw the top into her sister's face carelessly, before violently opening a few drawers of the bureau against the wall and grabbing a few items that she was sure were her own, unlike her sister, not in the mood to talk about stupid little things. She only stopped when her sister grabbed her arm in a sudden attempt to make her stop moving and to look at her. "What, Katie?" Emily didn't want to throw her anger at her sister, but right now she was heated and needed to just leave.

"Emily, please don't go."

"I can't stay here, Katie. She doesn't want me here, not that it matters to me, because _I _don't want to be here anymore."

Katie's eyes were welling up with tears, immediately regretting what came out of her mouth, "She's just trying to help you Emily. We're all trying to fucking help you… If you just fucking listened…"

The girl pulled her arm away from her sister, her anger equal to the fiery color of her hair now. That was the last straw, she was sick of accepting her sister's stupid excuses and blaming them on misunderstandings. Right now, her sister was being just as bad as Jenna. At least close enough, to make her impossibly more pissed.

"I'M GAY. THERE'S NOTHING TO FUCKING BE HELPED. THERE'S NOTHING WRONG EXCEPT FOR THIS FUCKING FAMILY. JUST FUCK OFF." Emily narrowed her eyes at her shocked sister before kicking over a nightstand with a glass lamp that shattered on the floor, despite the soft carpeting. On that note the red-head grabbed one final thing and shoved it into her pocket before starting to walk out of the room with her duffel bag slung over her shoulder.

Katie was following her out all the way to the room that's left of the staircase. She watched the short interaction between her siblings, anger and sadness overpowering her, the conflicting emotions having an all out internal battle of their own.

"Emily, please don't go, I promise I'll try and make everything better. Don't leave me with them…" The boy had his arms wrapped around his sister's waist, his voice slightly muffled while he buried his head into her shoulder. His tears were getting his sister's top wet, while hers were falling atop his head onto his hair.

"I'm sorry James; I just have to do this. I'll keep in touch with you okay? You have my mobile." She bit her lip, knowing she was going to miss him the most. If there was anything tempting her to stay, it was him. Hope for change had been long abandoned by her, so there was no reason she would stay for that.

"I know you do. I know it's not healthy for you here. Just don't abandon me completely. Please…" He was whispering, more reassuring himself than saying it for his sister. James had to convince himself it was for the best otherwise he may never let his sister go.

Katie took a few steps more into the room as the two pulled apart. "Emily don't go, James needs you." The red-head pulled James into a tight hug before walking right up to their sister, fuming with frustration.

"You don't need me, but James does. I get it, which is why I'll be keeping in touch with him. Goodbye Katie. I don't need you either." She watched as her sister's watery eyes dripped down her cheeks and lip started trembling before brushing past her and re-slinging the bag over her shoulder.

Her feet thundered quickly down the steps, she heard her parents voices coming closer as they rushed towards the commotion. Emily turned to face her parents, for what she knew to possibly very well be the last time she may see them, depending on what they were about to say to her. Shifting on her foot with her eyebrow raised she forced herself to give them the benefit of the doubt and her attention.

Her mother brushed her own black hair behind her ear and wiped a few tears with a crumpled tissue she had in her clenched hand. Her father was standing between the two of them, unsure of what was to be said. He waited for one of them to make the first move, not wanting to take sides and have it bite him in the butt later on, as much as he loved both of them.

"Emily, don't go. It's just a phase. We'll all grow out of it…" Her mother pled, taking a step closer for good measure. Her father cleared his throat uncomfortable with his wife's last words, but too scared to intervene, knowing the tension was increasing and he was about to lose one of the people he loved.

"What don't you get Jenna? You are the one with growing up to do! Have James tell me when you grow out of your immature, fucking over-conservative, miserably unfortunate, terrible and twisted outlook on what life should be, kay?" Emily looked to her father, "Bye Rob. It's been nice, mostly. But perhaps you should stop trying to conform to other people's values if you don't agree to them? Namely, Jenna's. I know you don't think she's right, but just fucking standing there and doing nothing isn't any better than silent disagreeing."

The red-head felt a hot tear fall down her face when she looked into her father's eyes and saw years of regret, shame, and sorrow. She opened the door, not bothering to slam it shut behind her before starting off down the road. They didn't even shout after her, not that she expected them to. She pulled out her mobile and scrolled down to the name she was searching for.

_**Text – James – 'Sorry. I'm not abandoning you. You'll be okay James. I'm sorry. I love you. Love Emily.'**_

She sat down on a bus-stop bench placing her bag on the ground in front of her feet. She wrapped one of the straps around her foot so as not to tempt any passer-by possible thieves. She pulled her mobile back out of her pocket when it vibrated.

_**Text – Emily – 'I'll be fine. Take care of yourself. Love ya. –Jakey.' **_

Despite the strong anger and resentment she was feeling, she couldn't help but smile at the happy memory that he reminded her of when she saw how he signed it. 'Jakey' was the nickname she had given him a few years ago when she caught him perving on his sister. 'Ja' for James, and 'key' short for keyhole. One of the numerous names she had come up with him during their spontaneous and playful banters.

She realized there was a stupid smile that was on her face and wiped it away, oddly wanting to feel the anger that had just been consuming her seconds ago. Emily picked up her bag and climbed into the bus that had just arrived. She practically gagged as the smell of the free public transportation unit invaded her nostrils. She looked around for the source, hoping to stay clear of it and found an empty seat all the way at the back. Breathing through her mouth she leaned her head against the window watching the neighborhood she had grown so familiar with, disappear.

She had no idea where she was running to, all that mattered right now was creating distance. Listening her hardest to the angry voice telling herself to be brave and follow through with what she said, not cave in and run back to her mum like a scared little girl only to be let down once again by the non-existence of the maternal figure she wished for.

The smells had stopped bothering her, the tapping of feet and flipping of newspaper pages faded away, the low humming of a homeless man a few seats away, and the oldies music on a barely audible volume playing out over the bus speakers. She welcomed anything that would distract her from the emotional drain that was exhausting her. Emily almost happily welcomed the rain that started to crash against the window, lulling her to a deep sleep.

**I think that was the most well written thing I've wrote before. Poor Emily, hopefully things will start to get better. Wonder where she's off to.**

**Kindly, please, let me know what you think? Suggestions are welcome, as I don't have much of a plan (nothing out of the ordinary for me…)**

**Thank you for reading! Sincerely, Shira.**


	2. Chapter 2: Acclimating

Chapter Two: Acclimating

A lonesome figure was sitting on the sidewalk with a tattered bag, holding up a dirty cardboard sign, _'please donate a quid.' _The figure tightened her manky jacket and shivered against the cold Bristol breeze. She watched as the busy civilians ran about their errands as if she wasn't there, begging for enough money to get at least a small bite of something. The girl cursed her fast metabolism; she probably had lost an incredible amount of weight, which was also probably why she was more effected by the weather than usual.

She grabbed the hidden pocket knife when she saw a guy approaching her. She didn't recognize him, and by the way he was dressed in random and clashing clothes he didn't look like he could afford to give her a quid, very dodgy. He stopped a foot away from her, her eyes squinted against what glare there was from the sun poking through the clouds that flashed behind his head.

Her grip on the knife relaxed when he gave her a bright white and friendly-looking smile. Emily just gave him a raised eyebrow, very unsure of what his motives were. His dark-skinned hand was open and pointing to the pavement next to her, "May I?", his accent was intriguing, definitely not from anywhere she had been in all of England. From somewhere in Africa maybe, she guessed. She shook her thoughts away and saw he was still waiting on an answer, _polite too. _Anyone else would have just taken the seat, not minding whatever she had to say about it. Without waiting any longer she gave him a skeptical nod, watching him cautiously.

He shifted his trousers so they'd allow him to take a seat. She noticed he didn't really care about the large dirt splotches on the pavement she had previously tried to avoid sitting on. His eyes too, were holding the smile on his face, "Hi, my name is Thomas."

Emily wondered why the hell he was talking to her, she didn't look approachable. And it was incredibly unlikely any boy, (or girl), would have interest in flirting with her in the state she was in. She casually sniffed herself, nearly gagging at the awful smell that invaded her senses. Breathing through her slightly parted mouth she looked back to the boy who was watching her. A strong breeze swept past them, causing the flaps of the boy's numerous windbreakers to flap about, and the hair's along Emily's arm raise with the chill.

"You're teeth are chattering, here, I have many, it is so cold here." He starts to peel off his topmost layer and hand it to her. She wants to reject the kind offer, but her limbs are too cold to deny him, she slips it over her slim arms. Her teeth begin to slow down and she smells his jacket appreciating the soap scent, especially because she had been expecting it to smell just as bad as herself.

"I have been here five months and I am still not used to it." He said, facing the people on the street who kept on going about their own business. Emily wondered if everyone pronounced their 't's like him in the place that he had been in five months ago. She remembered the knife in her hand and its purpose.

"Why are you talking to me?" She asked.

"I have seen you here for over a two weeks without so much as moving more than a block or so. You don't seem to be doing very well." He was looking at her kindly now.

"So you're stalking me." Emily's grip tightened on the knife, more unsure of him now.

"No, I work at a gas station across the street. I thought I could help you, I have been homeless since I came to England and it is not very fun." His eyes flicked to the glint in Emily's lap, knowingly. "For free. I'll help you for free."

"If you think I'm so desperate that I'd rob a fucking bank then you're mad. I'm not interested." Knowing he was homeless now, too, Emily couldn't think of any other reason he'd be talking to her.

His laugh was light and it reminded her of when she used to have friends who sh could laugh freely with. "No, that's not what I meant; I just have a few tips that might help you be a better… homeless person?"

Emily rolled her eyes. She wasn't homeless, she was just thrown out of her home by her cold family, with no where to go, and only ninety-four pounds she had made from a few odd-jobs she had taken during the summer. The money was all gone after using it for transportation and food, and a few things she thought she'd need if she were stuck on the streets, including the pocket knife. And now she was just waiting on the side of the road for something to happen... in dirty clothes... with no food or water...

"What exactly could you possibly give me; you said you're homeless…" She subtley admits to herself that she is, in fact, homeless, no matter how much she may want to deny it.

"Many things. Come to the store with me, maybe I can help you get a job." Thomas pointed to the gas-station across the street. He then stood up and brushed off the back of his trousers getting rid of excess dirt.

"Fuck it." I take his hand and let him pull me off the ground. I grab my bag and throw it over my shoulder, it was mostly empty now. Everything had been stolen, thrown out, eaten, or sold for cash, now long gone, so it was pretty light. I grabbed the cardboard sign but Thomas took it from me and looked at it.

"When I first came here, I made one of these… no good, it was. I knew very little English, much less slang or modern things… unfortunately, I had written something suggesting prostitution on my sign… It made for some very awkward situations, so, tip number one, always choose your words very wisely…" He laughed as we made our way across the street.

Thomas pulled away for a second, Emily stopped and waited for him to return, he threw out her sign in the large dumpster on the side of the station. "You can look around while I talk to Mr. Rajeek."

The red-head followed him into the store part of the gas-station, her eyes drifted over all the merchandise while he went to the back. There was a delicious scent of fresh bakery nearby causing her stomach to rumble painfully. She wanted to breathe through her mouth, but it watered at the sight of all the food she so desperately wanted. To distract herself she found a magazine on a shelf and started to flip through it, not that she really gave a shit about what celebrity just broke up with their boyfriend…

Emily was laughing to herself on the irony of her horoscope compared to her shit luck when Thomas appeared out of no where, standing next to her. "Oh, Emily! Don't do that!"

He grabbed the magazine and stuck it on the shelf, flattening it as much as possible to make it look like it hadn't been read. The short girl was freaked out by the quick movement and back away a little, looking at him with skepticism.

"Sorry, just Mr. Rajeek is very strict about the magazines and papers. Only can be read during break and if bought… "

Emily nodded not really concerned with his explanation, more anxious for the answer to the question she had come here for. She was about to ask him when a middle eastern looking man, fitting to be Mr. Rajeek, came out of the back door. He was almost as short as her, up close.

"I am sorry, M'am. I do not have room for anymore employees at the moment. Thomas here got lucky, saving my life from a few rascals, I had no choice but to offer it to him. Perhaps I can offer you food though. Pick one item in the shop and I will give it to you free of charge. Nothing too expensive though, I have a reputation to uphold." He chuckled and returned to the back.

Thomas was looking apologetic but his face quickly lightened, "Miss, I still can help you, I have a break in one hour. Will you meet me just outside the shop then?" The red-headed girl agreed quickly, more interested in finding something to eat. Her heart finally set on a small ready-to-go lunch, it was kid-size but at least it would have a little of everything she could use.

Emily took her food and bag and exited the store to go back to her spot on the other side of the street. She opened the package and lifted it to her nose, taking a most gratifying sniff of the food she was about to gobble down. The sandwich had things in it that Emily normally wouldn't eat, but her stomach was in no mood to leave any crumbs behind. She wasted no time alternating between bites of her brownie and vegetables, she needed the food in her as soon as possible. She stared at the now empty package in front of her with a frown wishing she had taken her time. The red-head licked her lips and cleared her throat thinking she should have asked for a drink too.

She took a deep breath, annoyed that her stomach still wasn't satisfied. First it wanted food, and now it was hurting from suddenly taking in more food than she had had over the past few weeks. Annoyed that satisfaction wasn't easy to come by.

Emily woke up startled when she heard the familiar accent of the boy, right next to her. "Wake up, miss, I know a better place for napping." The friendly smile was now showing.

The red-head looked around and realized it was getting much darker outside, she must've nodded off after she ate. She lifted herself off the ground, her stomach was still hurting but she tried to ignore it. Emily picked up her bag again and looked Thomas straight in the eye. "Well?"

He didn't mind her rude tone, despite the fact he was only trying to help. His smile remained and he gestured down the street, "There is a lady who homes people until they get back on their feet. Very helpful, most helpful, yes. Come, she's only a few blocks down."

Emily's fingers automatically played with the knife in her pocket at his dodgy answer. She didn't really have anything to lose, and right now he hadn't actually done anything for her to second-guess him. So with discreet caution she followed him and his colorful jackets in the direction he had pointed towards.

The silence was getting too awkward for Emily so she decided to make an attempt at small talk.

"So where are you from, exactly?"

"I am from Congo, I left my village to look for work…"

"Not to successful are you then?" Emily chuckled at his lame gas-station job.

"No, but I am …optimistic. Yes, I am hopeful something good will happen soon."

"Right…optimism…evil thing that is…" Emily grunted, remembering how optimistic she tried to be before coming out to her family and how horribly that went for her. The boy sensed her sudden tenseness and he stopped in his place; Emily had no idea where the house was so she had to do the same until he continued to lead the way.

"If there is one thing I am sure about, it's that when you give up hope you have no chance in this world anymore. Hope is a very, very powerful thing…not worth giving it up so easily..." Thomas was looking at Emily seriously, struggling to remember her name, not that she had actually told it to him yet.

"It's Emily." After what he said, she felt like she could trust him, the way he seemed to truly care for her welfare. She released the hidden knife and pulled the jacket she was still borrowing, tighter. "Pleasure to meet you Emily." Thomas took her down the block then stopped again.

"We are here now." He started to go up the steps of a large-ish house on the residential road. He noticed her uneasiness and encouraged her, "Its okay, she's really nice. I promise." The red-head took a deep breathe and climbed up the steps next to him. The knuckles of his skin lightly tapped the door twice before falling back to his side. He gave Emily one last reassuring smile before turning to the person who was opening the door.

The short girl stood awkwardly on the steps watching as Thomas was being pulled into a hug by an older blonde woman. "Hello Miss Campbell, it is so good to see you," he said. The woman put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him away to get a better look at him.

"I wasn't expecting you Thomas, I thought you had night shifts at the station on Tuesdays, is everything alright?" She looked truly concerned, and Emily found herself wondering if she had adopted him or something, the boy hadn't told her anything about his family before. Emily coughed nervously, really wishing she hadn't because the lady's blue eyes flicked to her instantly. "Well who's this young lady, Thomas?"

"This is Emily, she's been going through a rough time."

"Say no more, come inside, I'll get you all settled." Miss Campbell let go of Thomas and put her arm over the girl's shoulders, opening the door wider to invite them inside. "I was at the market the other day Thomas, and I saw some tea I thought you might like…"

Emily was resisting the urge to rudely shrug the strangers arm off her shoulders, she looked to Thomas, hopefully.

"Sorry Miss Campbell, as you said, I do have a night shift to return to. Just thought I'd show Emily over…" He gave her his smile before nodding politely and turning to go out the door, shutting it gently behind him.

The red-head stared at the door, so much for hope she thought. She felt herself being guided through the house into a different room. Her eyes were everywhere at once, taking in all the people who were in the house but didn't seem to belong to it. They stopped in the kitchen and all the others in it left the two of them alone. Emily stood still, unsure of what to do with herself or the bag over her shoulder.

"Oh, just put that down over there and take a seat at the table. You look like you could use some tea dear, how many sugars do you like?"

Emily dropped her bag on the floor where the lady pointed and took a seat on the chair closest to her. "One, please." The red-head still wanted to deny the help, but her thirst was scratching at her throat and she felt like she would pass out if she didn't get something to drink soon. A cup of hot, sweet-smelling tea was rested in front of her while the lady and her own cup sat on the opposite side to face her.

"It's a good thing Thomas brought you today, there's supposed to be some stormy weather, get's very cold at night here… suppose you'd know that though…"

Emily put down the empty cup and tried to hide her blush. She was very embarrassed that she was living on the streets, and had no idea how this woman knew, the way the woman was talking about weather had she been forced to sleep outside. Then again, she remembered her horrid smell and ratty clothes that she had. There was also the way she just downed the tea like she had been living in the desert. The embarrassment worsened at the realization at how horribly she'd been living the past few weeks.

"Oh I didn't mean to…" The red-head's eyes shot at the woman's hand that rested on her own in attempt to comfort her. It only made her more embarrassed because her hand shot away from the mother-like gesture. Jenna never acted in such a way around her… The woman took the hint, with a sad glint in her eyes and pulled her hand away. "I'm sorry, dear. I'm going to help you get back on your feet okay? Don't be embarrassed, life has a way of biting us in the ass, 'scuse me, nipping us in the butt. Some people fall harder than others…The best thing you can do is let someone help you pick up the pieces, which I'd be more than happy to do, love."

Emily held back a tear from the sheer kindness this lady was showing her; two people in less than a day had shown more genuine sincerity than she had felt in her entire life. The red-head's heart ached more than ever at the absence of a good family to support her, a sob escaped her against her will.

"It's okay to cry, love. I'm so sorry you've had a hard time." The lady got up, opened the freezer, and pulled out a container of ice cream and grabbed a spoon from one of the drawers. She sat back down and put the items in front of Emily who looked at her questioningly. "If you won't accept a hug, at least accept some comfort food, I bet you're ravenous."

Emily shook her head and pushed the food away. "I'm not really hungry right now…" She sniffed away her tears and wiped her eyes with her sleeve, realizing she still had Thomas's jacket. "Um, Miss Campbell, I forgot to give Thomas his jacket…"

The blonde woman let out a laugh, "Oh don't worry about that, you can give it to him in the morning. And call me Gina, even my daughter calls me Gina sometimes; only Thomas won't give up the formalities… he's got a big thing about being the utmost polite as possible, his mother was a very proper woman despite the 'primitive' stereotypes of third-world countries."

Emily's eyes flicked around the room unsure of what to say next, she let out a yawn, her drowsiness displaying itself to the public.

"Silly me, you must be exhausted, I'll show you where you can sleep, just grab your things, dear." Gina put the ice cream away as the girl grabbed my bag. Curious eyes were watching her, as strangers around the house were involved in their own conversations. She followed Gina up a flight of stairs until Gina stopped in front of a door. "Just a second, dear." The blonde woman disappeared behind the door; Emily just shrugged and dropped her bag on the floor again to look at the framed pictures on the wall.

"Wow. She's beautiful." Emily whispered to herself as her eyes tried to memorize the picture of the gorgeous girl in the pictures, being hugged by Gina. The red-head assumed the unknown girl must be Gina's daughter, she could see a resemblance, but the girl was undeniably the most breath-taking sight she thought she had ever seen. The blue eyes of the younger blonde were a shade that reminded Emily of the harshness of ice and the softness of the calm ocean, as if they had been fused into one. Then there was the small smile, a smirk that seemed to proclaim her as better than anyone else, it hid secrets that Emily found herself wanting to know.

There was something else about the smirk Emily couldn't place, perhaps insecurities buried deep down, the red-head shook her head not wanting to believe that someone so enthralling could actually have insecurities. She felt intimidated by the girl suddenly, more self aware of her horrid and depressing state. She forced herself to stop staring at the pictures, ashamed that she could never be as perfect as this girl appeared to be.

There was shouting from a voice she didn't recognize from behind the door, definitely not Gina's. A minute later the door swung open and the young blonde from the picture flew out, looking lovely even with an angered expression. She didn't have the chance to see her for long though because the girl stormed down the steps. Emily frowned and turned realizing Gina was standing in the doorway now.

"You'll have to excuse Naomi, she's just a little stressed out these days, exams and all. Oh, that reminds me, are you in school Emily? You look about the same age as my Naomi…" She looked the shy girl up and down with a loving smile.

"Uh," Emily willed herself to forget thinking about the girl and focus on the woman's question, "I'm seventeen." Her mind flicked back to the girl, _'Naomi,'_ that's what Gina called her. What a pretty name, she thought.

"And school?" Gina raised a knowing eyebrow at her.

"Hm, oh. I haven't really…" Emily blushed, even though she hadn't intentionally dodged it the first time Gina asked, she was just distracted...

"I see, well perhaps we can settle that tomorrow. There are towels in the closet over there; the shower is down the hall, and you can sleep in here." She gestures to the room she had just been in. The room that the girl, that Naomi just ran out of.

"Is that um, N-," Emily coughs to clear her throat, "Isn't that Naomi's room?" Emily suddenly feels as if she's intruding, realizing she's probably the reason that the girl was so upset. "I can sleep somewhere else if it's a problem…"

"Oh don't worry love, Naomi's just a shy little thing. She could certainly use someone friendly like you around. Now, no more of this nonsense, my home is your home. Naomi's room and all, it isn't going to kill her to share. I doubt she appreciates her a warm bed as much as you do. Go on. I'll be down the hall if you need anything, don't hesitate to take anything from the fridge or anything else you need, dear. Goodnight!"

Gina gave Emily's arm a light squeeze before going down the steps. The red-head once again didn't want to accept the unexpected kindness of these people but her body got heavy at the sight of the comfortable bed. She told herself she'll shower tomorrow, she was entirely too tired to move another step, let alone take a shower. Emily collapsed on the bed, too tired to even throw the covers over herself. Her eyes closed, pushing away the one thought that was swarming around her mind. _'Naomi sleeps in this bed.'_

With one last glance at the door, she checked that Naomi isn't coming. She justified sleeping in Naomi's bed thinking maybe the blonde is sleeping elsewhere and left for the night. Borrowing her bed for one night couldn't be so bad. Sleep casted over her, the drowsiness that accumulated from all the nights she was restless and couldn't sleep, knocking her out into the hours of the night.

**Enjoying writing this, apologies I haven't been updating so frequently, life's been shit. So hope you liked it. Leave a review and make life less shit? :)**

**Thanks! Shira.**


	3. Chapter 3: Standby and Take It

Chapter 3: Standby and Take It

Emily opened her eyes and remembered she wasn't sleeping in her own bed, or on the streets for that matter. She smiled drowsily after yawning and stretching then sat up to look around the room. Her eyes flicked from each interesting object, to the politics posters on the walls, and finally to a blonde sitting on a chair in the corner of the room. The red-head let out a small shriek, surprised that there was someone else in the room, let alone the girl she had just been dreaming about.

The blue eyes look up above the book they had just been reading. "Oh good, you're fucking awake. About time..." Emily's mouth was stuck hanging open as the blonde stood up, watching as she put her book down on the dresser and came closer to the bed. _Fuck, what was her name? Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. _The red-head looked down at what she was wearing and realized she had slept in her dirty clothes. There was dirt all over the sheets. _SHIT. You ruined her sheets! FUCK. _

She saw the blonde's nose wrinkle and sniff the room, Emily did the same and gagged at herself, trying to hide her own disgust. Not that it was really possible to hide, the blonde made that obvious to her. "You stink. My Mum told you where the shower is, yeah?" The sleepy girl on the bed nodded and got off the bed quickly and backed away from the blonde.

"Fucking hell, my sheets…" The blonde shifted the weight of her slim body onto her other foot and sighed. Emily bit her lip embarrassed realizing there was even more dirt in the space that had been beneath her body.

"I'll wash them for you!" Emily spat out, blushing at her outburst that the blonde hadn't expected. The beautiful blue eyes just rolled and then looked at brown ones to address her.

"You are staying in _my_ house; I don't think _you_ have a fucking washer. Whatever, just go fucking shower. Please…" The girl turned away from Emily who nodded and shyly ran out of the room.

The red-head had to check a few doors before finding the closet with the towels, she grabbed a dark one, knowing that if she used a white towel it would be noticeably worse looking after she used it. She finally found the shower and shut the door behind her.

She quickly stripped, wanting to be out of the house as soon as possible to avoid causing the girl anymore trouble. Emily climbed into the shower and turned the water on as hot as possible. She relished the extreme heat of the water washing away the dirt on her body. With her eyes closed she reached out for a shampoo bottle on the shelf, opening it and pouring some into her hand.

Humming a random tune she scrubbed all the mess away, looking at the water that was going into the drain, a nasty brown color. She tried to get all the gross stuff out of her hair until her arms were too tired to move anymore. Her nose was filled with a vanilla scent that made her take a deep breath in and wonder if it was the girl who used the shampoo and smelled like vanilla. _I need to ask Gina what her name is, again…_

Emily turned off the water and grabbed the towel from the floor before hopping out of the shower. She looked in the mirror and gasped at herself. Her hair was visibly a much more vibrant red and her skin was back to its usual color. She could see all the weight she had lost from not eating and suddenly felt really hungry. Her brown eyes stopped staring at her reflection and looked at the floor where the dirty clothes were sprawled out.

The door to the bathroom flung open, Emily shrieked realizing she had been too eager to shower to remember to lock the door. Gina was holding out some clothes and looked at Emily, "Wow, you look like you need some food, love." Emily blushed, looking down at the body she had just examined in the mirror. Her attention was back on Gina remembering she was standing naked and wasn't alone.

"Sorry, um, here are some clothes that I think are a bit small on Naomi. I don't think she'll even notice they were hers." Gina scooped up the dirty clothes to take away any chance that Emily may decide to wear them instead of the clean ones. The woman covered her eyes with her hand to avoid further embarrassing Emily as she stepped out and closed the door. _Too late for that…_

The red-head looked at the pile of clothes on the bathroom counter and then locked the bathroom door to avoid another embarrassing intrusion before she continued. She pulled up the white t-shirt with a picture of a pig on it and laughed, knowing Katie would highly disapprove.

Emily blushed impossibly harder when she saw there was a bra and underwear on the pile next. She held in the tears from thinking how tragic the situation was and slipped them on knowing she didn't really have any other options. Luckily they fit, but she was still embarrassed because it must've meant that Gina had sized her up behind her back. The jeans were a little long but Emily liked the way the bottoms bunched around her ankles, she thought they'd have fit a little tighter on her a month ago but now they were loose around her legs and easy to slip on.

She looked in the mirror again now that she was dressed and did a turn, happy that she looked almost normal again. She then remembered the clothes belonged to Naomi and begged the gods that Naomi wouldn't notice. Banging on the door startled Emily, who at first thought it was Katie, then remembered again she wasn't at home. Emily opened the door and was met with a naked man wearing headphones.

"I need the pisser. Can you move?" He mumbled, scratching his bald head pushing Emily out of the way. He doesn't even bother to shut the door or wait until Emily has completely left. He just shakes his head to the beat playing in his headphones and starts to pee. The red-head cringes at the sight and runs down the steps.

"Good morning Emily!" Emily was about to open the door and leave the house for good when she heard Gina's voice. She slowly turned her head until she was looking into the kitchen and saw Gina sitting at the table with another woman. The blonde woman wasted no time in getting up, aware of what Emily was about to do, and taking the girl's hand to pull her to the table. "Have some breakfast, love." The red-head sits awkwardly and takes the banana in the center of the table.

The other woman gives her a disgusted look, "We were going to ban those from the shopping list; they're positively patriarchal."

Emily practically chokes on the banana she's about to swallow at the ridiculous statement. But just then the naked man walks in and stretches in front of them, not minding the display he was making in the area below the abdomen. The woman who commented on the banana grimaced at him before looking back at the banana with a shake of her head. The red-head nearly gagged at the sick association that was being made and decided she was full before tossing the banana into the bin next to the counter.

Gina reappears in front of Emily again to block her escape, "Emily, I have some really urgent things I need to attend to so I'm going to have Naomi take you to Roundview and show you around, perhaps help you get registered…"

"I think I'm capable of doing that on my own." Emily didn't really want to trouble Naomi, it was just irritating the daughter and Emily only wanted Naomi to smile.

"No, no dear. Naomi is the student president, she'd be showing you around anyway… don't worry about it, love. Here's a lunch and a satchel I found laying around. Didn't even know we had one so I won't be missing it. You'll find a few pencils in there and a notebook or two, just wait by the door Emily. She should be down in a minute."

Emily took the bag and put it over her shoulder and sat on the ledge outside the house to wait. She wished she had a pack of smokes or something to ease her nerves… _Naomi student president? Impressive… _

The red-head had never really been outstanding at school; she didn't know it but she was definitely capable of being so. Katie was always dragging her sister to parties instead of doing coursework to drive her home when she was drunk, guilting Emily into doing her essays before the red-head had a chance to do her own, never really allowing Emily the chance to succeed.

She almost fell off the ledge when Naomi slammed the door behind her, muttering curses under her breath until they met eyes. "Let's just get this over with, okay?"

"Uhm, yeah."

The blonde goes to the back of the house and Emily goes to follow her until the blonde shakes her head and turns back to Emily, "Wait here, I'm just getting my fucking bike." Emily blushed feeling stupid and waiting for the girl to return and lead the way.

Naomi was pedaling away past Emily who was admiring the way the girl's blonde locks were swaying in the against the breeze, the sun lighting up her face. The blonde suddenly hit the break a few feet away and put her feet on the ground to balance while looking back to Emily who still hadn't moved.

"You can follow me now…" Naomi rolled her eyes as Emily embarrassedly nodded and ran to catch up.

After a series of streets, Naomi going fast enough so that she was never really close enough to Emily for them to have to make small talk but not so fast that Emily would lose sight of her. The shorter girl not wanting to fall too far behind was walking quickly, careful not to run so as not to look stupid. However, walking so quickly but not running was having the opposite of the desired effect and making her awkward.

When Naomi approached a large hill in front of the school she climbed off the bike and started to walk it up. Emily ran to catch up, now was her chance. The blonde stopped to face her, ignoring the people who were brushing past them to go into the building.

"Just go to the fucking registration office and they'll sort you out, yeah?"

Emily nodded.

"And don't tell them you're fucking homeless… just make something up…."

"I'm not homeless." Emily whispered.

"Yes. You are." Naomi bit her lip, annoyed that she was probably going to be late to classes.

"I'm not, I'm just…" Emily struggled to come up with a proper explanation that didn't sound stupid.

"You're fucking homeless, you're just another lazy-ass kid who didn't do their fucking chores and smoked too much weed and got kicked out of their house. So you came to my fucking house to sleep in my fucking bed and wear my fucking clothes and have someone like me do all your fucking work for you. Your irresponsibility isn't my fucking fault, just grow up. Not my problem."

Emily was crying and managed to force out a response to the angry blonde, "I'm not a lazy-ass kid."

"Excuse me, I didn't mean to offend you. Hyper-active crackheads are so much better than lazy-ass stoners." Naomi scoffed.

"You don't know me..." The red-head's lip was trembling as the tears started soaking through her shirt. Her voice was a weak and pathetic whisper compared to Naomi's confident and angered one.

"Oh yeah, try me." The blonde looked away from Emily and rolled her eyes.

"You, Naomi, are a bitch. Your mum loves you and you don't appreciate it. My mum would treat me like shit everyday, my sister treated me like a doormat, my dad pretended none of them did shit to me, and they all forced me to leave my younger brother… and I can't even make it better because I can't make myself not gay no matter how hard I try. YOU THINK I FUCKING ASKED TO BE GAY?" Emily's tears were falling faster, her voice was full of the built up rage.

Naomi was shocked and just stuttered, "Emily… I... I just…"

"Fuck you, Naomi. You're not perfect. You're more fucked up than I am, really. Fuck you." Emily dropped the satchel to the ground and pulled off the t-shirt and jeans. Naomi eyes were bulgding at the girl stripping in front of her and looking around to see if anyone else was watching, but everyone had already gone inside.

"Take your fucking shit. I don't want it." The red-head stormed off down the hill out of Naomi's sight, not once turning to look behind her.

Naomi stood there on the verge of crying herself, wanting to chase after the girl, but her feet remained firmly in place. Her teeth clamped over her lower lip as she looked on not sure what she should do next. She didn't want to go to school now, unlike her usual strict academic self, but she was too afraid to do what she actually did want to do. Instead she lowered herself until she was sitting in the ground with her arms wrapped around her legs, staring at the pile of clothes and bag lying on the pavement in front of her.

**AWWW. Poor Emily. ;( **

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter. What a bitch Naomi was… it gets better…**


	4. Chapter 4: Home Sweet Home

**It's been awhile, so… you may wanna go back and re-read… I know **_**I **_**had to…**

Chapter 4: Home Sweet Home

Pale and nimble fingers subconsciously contorted the numerous chain necklaces dangling from the irregularly skinny girl's neck. The girl released her grasp on the necklaces, unable to sit still for a moment longer; she raised her hand in silent request.

The bearded man in front of the room didn't notice, just continued mumbling curses under his breath while he flipped through the pages of the textbook. The girl's cold voice cut through the whispers and chuckling of the other students, her request no longer silent, "Kieran?"

The bearded man continued flipping through the book. "What?"

"I need to use the toilet."

"Right… Right. Fucking toilet. Oh." He looks up from the book meeting her cold blue and waiting eyes, realizing she had really just asked a question, and he hadn't actually answered. "Right, off you go then."

The room is filled with hushed laughter at Kieran's slow mindedness while the scarcely covered girl scoots her seat back and walks out of the room without another sound. Kieran cursed that he lost his train of thought then went on a rant on how students shouldn't need to interrupt every time they couldn't hold their bladder. It's not like he gave a shit if they left, he was getting paid to stand in front of the classroom and talk, whether there was ten students or one.

A boy with short and brown hair gets up from his seat; the guy next to him gives him a questioning look which is just answered with a rustle to his shaggy black hair. "I'll be back Freddie, dun' you worry." Freddie just rolled his eyes at his friend's antics, annoyed, and fixed his messed up hair. The standing boy wiggled his eyebrows and started to head for the door when the bearded guy stopped him.

"And what the bloody fuck are you doing?"

"I have to piss Kieran, thought I'd spare you the interruption…" He gave the teacher a cheeky smile, knowing he wasn't going to be denied.

"Cook…" The teacher attempts to come up with something but relents, "Whatever, I don't give a fuck…" Kieran raises his hands up and drops them at his side in defeat, mumbling how all teenagers are evil little shits, manipulating the system every way they can; not that Kieran didn't think the system wasn't corrupt anyway…

Cook laughed as he exited the door and started to run down the hallway banging on all the lockers he passed making a ruckus and pissing off any teachers giving lessons nearby. He jumped down the staircase to the ground level and exited through the main entrance, his eyes caught sight of his prey. He walked up behind the girl exhaling smoke and grabbed the fag out of her hand, taking a drag as she turned to look at the thief, even though she knew who was coming before the person had even decided to follow her.

"Sharing is caring." He shrugs holding the fag back out to her as he blows smoke rings in her direction.

She smirks and starts to walk away, knowing that he'll still follow her. She's about halfway down the hill when she finds what she was looking for. She flicks the fag into the air behind her, allowing Cook the chance to catch it, before taking a seat next to the girl sitting alone.

The blonde didn't turn her head to look who had joined her; she just sniffed and said through her tears, "I'm such a tit."

"Yeah, sometimes you are." Two pairs of blue eyes meet each other, each pair so different from the other yet somehow still able to share an understanding.

The brunette looks to Cook, and he obeys the silent command, taking a seat on the other side of the distressed Naomi.

"What did you do, babe?"

The blonde turned away from the blue eyes watching her and stared at the clothes still on the ground in front of her in a pile. Her voice was shaky as she told them the various important details of the eventful past two days all beginning with the sudden and highly unexpected intrusion of Emily…

…

"So you mean to say there is a half-naked red-head running around Bristol looking for some love?" Cook couldn't help himself; he was the most single-minded boy that any of the gang had met. Cook would even admit it, with his classic cheeky grin. Despite how frequent and uncontrolled the crude statements were, it didn't excuse him from the smack over the head he always got if he was in Naomi's company, especially if she was in no mood for humor.

This time the smack was joined with an annoyed glare from the other girl.

"Effy, I don't know what the fuck I'm doing anymore… I'm just so fucked up…" Naomi's blue eyes are rimmed with red, wet from sobbing all morning.

"Why don't you just take a break from school for a bit? Do that volunteer work you were going on about, might get you back to being your old self and distract you a little from that girl who's fucking with your head."

Naomi gives Effy an incredulous look, she's never 'ditched' school except for the few times that Cook and Effy had kidnapped her or blackmailed her into joining them.

"C'mon Blondie, you're an ace student, I bet you the teachers will be celebrating you being out of the building… I mean every fucking thing is a debate with you, and problem is, you're right most of the time… get's right fucking annoying." Cook adds, making Effy's plan at least somewhat rational.

"Oh, shut up." Naomi smiles shyly, knowing that was Cook giving her a compliment.

"You know you're clever babes, you don't need school. You know taking a break is the smart thing to do." He knows he's manipulated her, but he only does it because it's for Naomi's best and he care about her. When Blondie isn't looking, Effy gives Cook a nod of approval, a job well done.

"Fuck it. You're right." Naomi stood up and lifted her bike off the ground, climbing onto it. "I'm going to go home and take a nap. I didn't get any fucking sleep last night." The blonde was ultimately okay with leaving school for awhile to be helping other people, the main reason she had been attending school anyway; so that she could eventually make a proper and respectable career out of volunteering.

"Cheers!" Cook shouted, watching as his troubled friend pedaled off down the hill before turning to Effy and wiggling his eyebrows, "And then there were two…"

"Fuck off, whore." Effy mumbled, smirking as she got up and headed toward the car park instead of back inside the building. Cook laughed hard at the insult, knowing it was good-hearted teasing as he walked with her, always reliably persistent.

Emily was too upset to really focus on the fact that she was running around a city she wasn't very familiar with in only her underwear and bra. She was too frustrated, her mind still repeating Naomi's bothersome words and sad face over and over to even hear the whistles coming from random guys standing outside of one of the bars she passed.

She almost smiles for a second when she realizes she's right by the gas station, where Thomas had originally found her. However, she's nervous and still unsure if she wants to see him again or just completely forget about everything when she sees him running across the street starting to pull off one of his jackets. Emily lifts her arms and folds them over her chest to try and be a little modest when Thomas is so close that she can hear him breathing.

"Emily, what happened?"

She stares at him silently. He sighs sadly, and gives her the jacket dangling in his hands and wraps it around her shoulders. A tear falls down her face, despite her not wanting to show this unhappy side of herself in public; she had shown Naomi way too much, had let it get out of her control.

Thomas catches her tear with his finger and pulls her into a hug to warm up her cold body. "Never mind what happened. I'll take you back to the house." He whispers calmly as he starts to walk her in the direction of it.

"No." Emily stops, forcing Thomas to come to a halt as well. For a second he gives her a confused look then realizes that odds are her anger and sadness may have something to do with the Campbell's… most likely Naomi as he knew Gina was not likely to have this bad effect on Emily. He thinks for a moment before coming up with a better solution. He takes Emily with him into the gas station before flipping through an address book and finding what he was looking for.

"I think I may know a better place for you…" She agrees to go with him. They walk there, and Emily feels mightily self-conscious wearing the baggy jacket that is hardly long enough to cover her underwear. But she feels safer with Thomas, noticing the way he glares at any of the guys ogling her on the way.

He opens up the wooden door to the building for Emily and follows her inside to a lobby area. The place looks very mismatched, all the furniture most definitely second-hand… probably stuff that was repaired just enough so that it needn't be sent to the dump. He talks to an elder woman behind a desk while Emily looks around, noticing that all the other people in the lobby are women, similarly dressed in thrift shop clothes… probably in the same circumstances as herself.

The warmth of the dark hand returns to her shoulder, taking her out of her thoughts and allowing her to focus on his voice. "They'll let you stay here Emily… I have to go back to work, and um, men aren't allowed beyond the lobby so I'll talk to you later, okay? Shelly will get you set up…"

Emily gives him a weak and grateful smile as he gives her shoulder a light squeeze and leaves the building leaving her to face the elder woman waiting behind her on her own. "Hello dear, welcome to the Women's Crisis Shelter of Bristol… have you ever stayed at a shelter before?"

"Um, no." Emily whispers.

"Right, well luckily for you we had one opening left. Come I'll show you your room and give you the rules…"

Emily nervously follows Shelly through another set of doors beyond the lobby and down a hallway. There's a room filled with racks of clothes where they make a stop, "This is the communal clothes, you can wear what you like, however you are only admitted two outfits to keep within your own personal room. One you're wearing and one folded away. At any time you can switch them with something else, but this is just to ensure that there is enough for everyone…" She sees Emily grimace and frowns. "Everything is washed between uses, and all the underwear is brand new, which you get to keep a few pairs of… Go on select what you need then I'll take you to your room."

Emily steps into the room, moving past a few people sorting through the racks. Once again she can hear Katie's disapproving voice echoing through her thoughts but pushes it away as she finds a pair of torn jeans that don't look too bad. They might be a little over-torn and probably a bit big for her, but at least she won't stand out wearing them. She then grabs a plain green t-shirt and takes some underwear when no one is looking, clearly embarrassed.

The woman is waiting for her in the doorway, and gives her an encouraging smile when Emily is through and they go down the hallway towards another room. Shelly opens the door, inside are a couple of bunk beds already covered in sheets and folded blankets. "There's no one sleeping on the bottom bunk on the right."

Emily lies down on it, needed no further persuasion, it feels good to be on a bed that she won't have to feel guilty sleeping on, but she remembers there are rules about this place and sits back up to the woman still standing there. "You said there are rules?"

"Yes, during the day you are expected to be working, you don't need to look for a job as it's already set up if you choose to stay here. Not to worry, the position open is a filer for the generous agency across the street. They'll pay you, and with that money you should be balancing saving up for something important. There are no drugs or sex, or men on the premises. If you're caught doing drugs outside the home you'll be kicked out… You are expected to participate in helping around the shelter, switching between cooking duty and laundry and cleaning. However, your pay from the job is yours to keep, and stay and the meals are free… Do you have any questions, Emily?"

"When do I start working?"

"Tomorrow."

"Thanks."

"And Emily… if you need someone to talk to, the women here are very… understanding… Oh! And don't forget to be respectful of the other residents… we aren't very tolerant if there are any reasonable complaints so, don't do anything regrettable… You good then?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"Sure thing." Shelly shuts the door behind her and leaves a very tired Emily to fall asleep under the covers of the bunk bed. However, that was only after she had herself a deep cry… unable to escape the reality of the desperate situation and the loneliness she was feeling.

**Aww. Poor Ems. Hope y'all like this story… things will be getting better … but first… they'll be getting worse. –Cackles.**

**;) Teasing was too tempting. Hope to update this soon. Tootles.**


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